Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
203,234 studies31 sourcesUpdated 50 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDOpen forum infectious diseases

Association Between Weather Variables and Viral Gastroenteritis in the United States.

  • Natalya Alekhina1
  • Paola Fonseca-Romero2,3
  • Per H Gesteland1,4
  • Ben J Brintz2
  • Amy L Leber5
  • Jami T Jackson6
  • Jennifer Dien Bard7
  • Neena Kanwar8
  • Ara Festekjian9
  • Chari Larsen4
  • Kimberle C Chapin10,11
  • Rangaraj Selvarangan8
3 more authors
  • Sean Soisson12
  • Andrew T Pavia2,4
  • Daniel T Leung2,3
12 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Biomedical Informatics, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
  2. 2Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Epidemiology, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
  3. 3Department of Pathology, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
  4. 4Department of Pediatrics, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
  5. 5Department of Pediatrics, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
  6. 6Department of Emergency Medicine, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
  7. 7Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles; Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
  8. 8Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
  9. 9Department of Emergency Medicine and Transport, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
  10. 10Deepull, Barcelona, Spain.
  11. 11Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
  12. 12Department of Predictive Analytics and Population Health, Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Read full textPDFDOICite

Abstract

Infectious gastroenteritis (IGE) is a major cause of pediatric morbidity globally, with viral pathogens accounting for a substantial proportion of cases. While seasonal patterns of viral IGE are well recognized, the association between specific environmental exposures, such as ambient temperature, and viral IGE has not been fully quantified. First, we performed a secondary analysis of data from a prospective, multisite study of children presenting to emergency departments at 5 medical centers across the continental United States, linking individual-level laboratory data to environmental exposures, including temperature, humidity, and air pollutants, measured during the 14 days preceding symptom onset. Mixed-effects logistic regression was applied to evaluate the association between viral IGE and environmental exposures, adjusting for site-level clustering and patient age. Among 868 children with IGE, higher ambient temperature was inversely associated with viral etiology (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, .36-.68; P < .001). We did not find statistically significant associations between other environmental variables and viral IGE. Then, to contextualize these individual-level findings in children, we examined all-ages population-level surveillance data from GermWatch, a regional laboratory testing-based infectious disease surveillance system, which demonstrated concordant declines in viral pathogen detection with increasing temperature. These findings support the association of ambient temperature with viral transmission patterns. Incorporating environmental context into clinical decision-making may improve diagnostic stewardship and support more effective resource allocation during periods of increased viral IGE prevalence.

Related

  1. The Association between Eviction Moratorium and Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment in the United States
    Alene Kennedy-Hendricks, Yimin Ge, Kathryn M Leifheit +6
    Preventive medicinePeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull textGeneral medicinePMC
  2. The association of social determinants of health with dental care use and expenditures among older adults in the United States
    Maryam Alfayyadh, Jay Sureshbhai Patel, Preeti Pushpalata Zanwar +2
    Frontiers in Oral HealthPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textGeneral medicineDOAJ
  3. Calendar-Period Variation in the Association Between Documented Complete Rotavirus Vaccination and Laboratory-Confirmed Gastroenteritis: An 11-Year Test-Negative Study
    Yunus Nas, Basri Çakıroğlu
    Pediatric reportsPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMC
  4. Association of Travel Time With Definitive Prostate Cancer Treatment: A United States Registry Cohort Study.
    Filippo Dagnino, Stephan Korn, Danesha Daniels +15
    Cancer medicinePeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull textOncologyEurope PMCDOAJ
  5. Adoption of intravascular imaging-guided percutaneous coronary intervention in the United States (2012-2022): temporal trends, disparities, and mortality association.
    Yangyang Zhang, Mingyou Zhang, Tong Li +2
    Frontiers in cardiovascular medicinePeer-reviewedCC BYFull textSurgery & anaesthesiaEurope PMCCrossref

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{alekhina2026association,
  title = {{Association Between Weather Variables and Viral Gastroenteritis in the United States.}},
  author = {Natalya Alekhina and Paola Fonseca-Romero and Per H Gesteland and Ben J Brintz and Amy L Leber and Jami T Jackson and Jennifer Dien Bard and Neena Kanwar and Ara Festekjian and Chari Larsen and Kimberle C Chapin and Rangaraj Selvarangan and Sean Soisson and Andrew T Pavia and Daniel T Leung},
  journal = {Open forum infectious diseases},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1093/ofid/ofag649},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42872208},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Association Between Weather Variables and Viral Gastroenteritis in the United States.
AU  - Natalya Alekhina
AU  - Paola Fonseca-Romero
AU  - Per H Gesteland
AU  - Ben J Brintz
AU  - Amy L Leber
AU  - Jami T Jackson
AU  - Jennifer Dien Bard
AU  - Neena Kanwar
AU  - Ara Festekjian
AU  - Chari Larsen
AU  - Kimberle C Chapin
AU  - Rangaraj Selvarangan
AU  - Sean Soisson
AU  - Andrew T Pavia
AU  - Daniel T Leung
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/05
JO  - Open forum infectious diseases
DO  - 10.1093/ofid/ofag649
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42872208
AB  - Infectious gastroenteritis (IGE) is a major cause of pediatric morbidity globally, with viral pathogens accounting for a substantial proportion of cases. While seasonal patterns of viral IGE are well recognized, the association between specific environmental exposures, such as ambient temperature, and viral IGE has not been fully quantified. First, we performed a secondary analysis of data from a prospective, multisite study of children presenting to emergency departments at 5 medical centers across the continental United States, linking individual-level laboratory data to environmental exposures, including temperature, humidity, and air pollutants, measured during the 14 days preceding symptom onset. Mixed-effects logistic regression was applied to evaluate the association between viral IGE and environmental exposures, adjusting for site-level clustering and patient age. Among 868 children with IGE, higher ambient temperature was inversely associated with viral etiology (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, .36-.68; P < .001). We did not find statistically significant associations between other environmental variables and viral IGE. Then, to contextualize these individual-level findings in children, we examined all-ages population-level surveillance data from GermWatch, a regional laboratory testing-based infectious disease surveillance system, which demonstrated concordant declines in viral pathogen detection with increasing temperature. These findings support the association of ambient temperature with viral transmission patterns. Incorporating environmental context into clinical decision-making may improve diagnostic stewardship and support more effective resource allocation during periods of increased viral IGE prevalence.
SN  - 2328-8957
ER  -